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Monuments commemorate great people and significant events–grand public markers that function to inspire and remind us of our own poten- tial to achieve said greatness and significance. “Think About Tomorrow . . . or Don’t” is based loosely on the Wright Brothers Monument, erected on the spot of their first sustained flight in 1903 near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It is an awe-inspiring design that con- veys optimism and progress, looking both like the wings of a bird in flight and the rays of a bisected rising sun. It is a monument not only to the first sustained flight in a machine heavier than air, but also to the greatness of the American character and the perserverance of this identity. Our Nation was founded under these precepts and has risen to extraordinary power on the waves of it. We succeeded in fulfilling our Manifest Destiny by continuously looking to the future with out- standing will and ambition. And while history has provided very succinct examples of the benefits gained from unbridled optimism, will, and ambition, these examples make it easy to overlook the paradoxical nature of optimism. “Think About Tomorrow . . . or Don’t” is an ambiguous monument, offering a broader message than the traditional Monument–connecting two seemingly dichotomous ideas into a single thought, bringing together both sides of the bisected rising sun convincing the viewer of nothing but offering everything. This piece illustrates the nature of my work and its emphasis on the paradoxes surrounding forward movement and apparent advanta- geous advancement. It is through sculptures, drawings, and installa- tions that I attempt to move toward a deeper understanding of what propels us all to move toward anything at all. Margaret Lee |